Jake Long: The Big Reveal
by DannyFenton123
Summary: Based after the Hong Kong Longs. When Rotwood finally exposes the dragon community, Jake, his family and his friends are forced to find an ancient artifact, the only thing that could possibly wipe the minds of any human to the existence of magic. The only problem? It was last seen in the hands of the now destroyed Huntsclan. Time to Dragon Up and face the danger.
1. Raining on the Picnic

**EDIT 30/5/16**

Living in a family who has only now revealed that they are all fire-breathing lizards? Awesome, but it took some getting used to for Johnathon.

"Hey, Jakers! It's time to-" Opening the door to their son's bedroom with their characteristic goofy smile, Johnathon discovered not the human Jake but the dragon Jake, which was still a little bit of a shock to them.

Jake was literally curled up on bed, their large head resting on their impressively sharp claws, their tail wrapped around themselves. Their wings were folded, but they were relaxed and lying on either side of their pointy ridged back. Their teeth, each fully bigger than a pinkie finger at least, were showing in a sort of smile. At the end of their snout, a little puff of smoke escaped at every exhale.

This was their son, Jake Long.

"Hey, Jakeroo!" Johnathon tried, but Jake was completely oblivious. They was going to have to wake the dragon some other way.

Approaching the bed somewhat apprehensively, Johnathon was now directly above Jake's scaly head. They gave their son's shoulder a little poke.

Jake stirred, opening their eyes slowly.

"Do the whata-whata! Be afraid of the American- _Dad_!"

Jake jumped, a small amount of fire spurting out of their nostrils as they raised himself up on their front two claws, making Johnathon back off sharply.

"Good morning, son!" Johnathon waved, making Jake smile and wave back.

"Good morning, Da- oh." With a flash of blue light, the dragon changed into a rather drowsy-looking, pyjama-clothed, human Jake Long. "Sorry for the scare, Dad."

"You didn't scare me." Johnathon laughed nervously. "It's all good, Jakeroo. Rough day with the magical stuff?"

Jake snorted. "You bet! This big troll was hanging under the Brooklyn Bridge, and they wouldn't move! So I had to fight them and by the end I was so tired, man I just crashed!"

"Hey, that's… cool!" Jonathon ruffled their son's hair. "You should take me to see a troll someday-"

"Dad! Not the hair!" Jake pushed their father's hands away. "And, uh, I think we'll start with something small, like a fairy. But they don't come out in the rain."

"Rain?" Jonathon raised an eyebrow. "It's just a little overcast. And speaking of outside, get ready for Sunday park time!"

"Wait, what?"

"I already made the sandwiches, put my sweat and blood into it!" Jake cringed as they noticed their father's bandaged finger.

"I hope that's a figure of-"

"So what are you waiting for? Let's get hopping!"Jonathon dashed out of the room, leaving an uneasy Jake to get changed.

~Line Break~

Sitting under a tree with a picnic blanket spread out was normally a wonderful thing to do on Sunday lunchtime. However it was not so when it was chucking buckets of rain, and everybody was sitting in dripping coats that weren't quite waterproof.

"Isn't this just simply _glorious_ , mi famillia?" Jonathon bit into a soggy sandwich before immediately coughing and spitting it out, making a brief disgusted face as they threw it over their shoulder."Err... who needs food when we have each other?"

"Me." There were moments when Jake remembered that they were a cold-blooded lizard. They was feeling that horrible chill only felt when their water-resistant anorak was soaking and the freezing damp was beginning to seep through onto their clothes, and then their skin. "Those spring rolls were my favourite. Were."

"It… can't be that bad, Jakers!" Jonathon tried.

A monster drop of water dropped out of the tree above and splatted right on the top of Jake's head. They growled. "That's it!" A flash of blue appeared behind them and suddenly they were holding their vibrant red wing over their head.

Susan leaned over. "Jake!" They hissed. "We're in a public place, honey."

"Yo, Mom!" Jake raised their eyebrows at the rain. "You think anybody else is crazy enough to be having a picnic in this storm?"

"If I wasn't such a perfect child," Hayley, ever hopeful, picked up a spring roll but dropped it immediately when it dissolved in their hands. "I would totally join you, Jake. But you're forgetting one thing."

"What?" Jake snapped. At the same time there was a _click_ _from behind a bush as_ Rotwood's camera took a nice shot of the dragon boy.

"Everything you assume generally tends to be wrong." Hayley looked behind themselves as the bushes trembled suspiciously. "It's like you're part of a cartoon series or something."

"Shut up!"

"Young man!" Jonathon wasn't entirely sure how to go about this talk. "If you would stop being rude to your sister... and..."

"I'll handle it." Susan rolled their eyes. "If you can't behave, I'll tell your grandfather you are feeling up to some nice hard training-"

"Done!" Jake's wing disappeared before Susan could even finish their sentence. "And now I'm wet again."

"Well, I suppose this isn't the weather for a picnic. Should we hit the road?" Jonathon suggested.

"Why didn't you ask sooner?" Hayley and Jake upped and ran, leaving the adults to follow.


	2. Rotwood's Lucky Pink Fairy Boxers

**EDIT 30/5/16**

"Haha!" Rotwood emerged fully from the bushes, hugging a roll of video tape to their chest. "Ze proof, it's mine! Finally I can expose that Jake Long for what he really is, a dragon!"

It was indeed quite an impressively clear depiction of Jake Long, with wings. Pity that the camera they took it with was expensive enough to force them to rent out their house.

Soaked to the skin, wearing a strange army camo-style uniform, Rotwood certainly attracted their fair share of attention from pedestrian. Not that they cared; they were too caught up with their success. They were grinning from ear to ear as they sauntered down to their garage. Unlocking the door, they sidled in.

"Yo, Rotwood!" A voice shocked Rotwood from their thoughts. Spud was sitting down by the teacher's computer and typing whilst looking at a very old-looking scripture. "Is that more pictures of my mom's lasagne?"

"What are you doing here?!" Rotwood stalked up to their student. "Zis is my house, and that is very-" They suddenly caught sight of the screen and gasped. "Are you translating my ancient Aztec scripture? I've been working on that for years and I've only ever got ze first line!"

"What, this?" Spud yawned. "I was bored."

"Bored? How did you-" Rotwood pulled themselves out of shock. "Anyway, that's no excuse. What are you doing in my house?"

"You rented your place out, remember?" Spud leaned back in the chair. "And I, like, wanted to see what it's like being a crazy old person for a week. I mean, I was an old person for a day, but I wasn't crazy, you know? It was just really boring, even though I was getting chased around by this-"

Rotwood cut them off. "Okay okay! Fine, since you paid you can stay here – just stop talking."

"Are we playing the silent game?" Spud grinned. "I didn't know that crazy old people played the silent game! Oh boy," They clapped his hands together. "I haven't learned this much since potty training! And speaking of that, Mr. Rotwood, where do I sleep?"

Sighing deeply, _Professor_ Rotwood knew that this was going to be a long week.

~Line Break~

"Ooh, Jake!" Hayley grinned at their brother over the monopoly table. "You've landed on my Mayfair!"

"Aww, man!" Jake frowned. "Aren't you only allowed one hotel?"

"Normally, yes." Hayley cuddled up to their mother. "But as nobody else has any properties, and I asked so nicely, it doesn't really make sense to not give them to me, does it?"

Casting a look around the game board and then at their rather diminutive stack of ones, Jake groaned. "I'm out, aren't I?"

"Five million, please!"

"Yep, I'm out." Jake leaned forwards. "Unless we can work out some sort of IOU? Maybe I can do your chores for… wait, I shouldn't care this much about Monopoly."

"Don't be a bad sport, Jakers!" Johnathon reached over and ruffled their son's hair. They'd been winning at the start, but kept conveniently forgetting when Hayley was on their properties. "You're forgetting that Sunday evening family games aren't about the winning, they're about the bonding!"

Jake rolled their eyes. "So, since we've let Hayley 'bond' at three games already, can I go upstairs and, y'know, do my own thing?"

"Jake-"

"Thanks, see ya!" Jake ran upstairs before anybody could protest, going into their room and unlocking the window.

It was just about dark enough for a little fly, the dark sky to the right of them only smudged with a hint of red. The buildings were indistinguishable from the spaces between to a human eye, but then again Jake wasn't really human.

Jake stood on the edge of their window, feeling the wind whip past their face, cool and refreshing. They leaned back and then leapt out. " _Dragon up_!" A blue smoke engulfed them, and a split second later a grinning ruby dragon zipped out at the speed of 179 miles per hour.

Soaring through the skies, Jake flapped their wings once more and circled the Empire State building, before steadying themselves and slowly gliding on the wind currents, high in the sky, as they made his way home. A trio of fairies swooped past them with a friendly twitter.

"Man," Jake looked down at the bright lights of the city. "It's hard being the American Dragon, but nights like this make it all worth it."

~Line Break~

Rotwood's voice rang out over the speakers the next day at school as Jake was getting their stuff. "And all of you must come to ze assembly after your second lessons. Prepare to be amazed! Do not be late!"

Jake frowned. "Where's Spud?"

"No idea, Jakey." Trixie hitched up their bag. "I never know what Spud's doing, yo."

Rolling his eyes, Jake closed their locker. "'Prepare to be amazed!' I wonder what Rotwood's assembly is about."

"I never know what that guy is up to." She frowned at them. "Dragon stuff?"

Jake snorted. "I don't think Rotwood's ever going to mix assemblies and dragons again."

"Good point."

"Rotwood's too clever for that." Jake grinned cockily as he approached their classroom and opened the door, still talking as loudly as before. "They'd find some other way to try and reveal that I'm a- ow! What was that for, Trixie?" Jake rubbed their arm, where their friend had delivered a swift punch.

Trixie motioned to the front, where Rotwood was staring at them with a triumphant smile on their face. "Oh. Oh, right."

"Silence! Silence, please!" Rotwood stood up just as a knock came at the door, and Spud walked in. "Why are you late, boy?"

"Oh, sorry Mr. Rotwood-"

"Principal!"

"Yeah, right." Spud dug in their pockets, and pulled out what looked very much like a tiny sturring machine, two prongs with a hole in the body for a pinky finger to fit through. "So I was trimming my nose hairs with your nose-hair trimmer, but it broke."

A titter spread through the room as Rotwood began to look less angry and more mortified as Spud continued to talk. "I spent ages trying to fix it, since it was so precious to you! You wouldn't believe how I finally managed it, though. I had to use a pair of your lucky home-sewn sparkly fairy boxers, weighed down with your framed pink slip from Hoboken Science Institute. When I got those set up, I then managed to get the back open by using a wand from your personal collection of..."


	3. Creature

**Edited 3/6/16**

"Alright, class dismissed!" Rotwood stood by the door. "Single file, so I can collect your- single file! _Single fi-_!"

Jake hung back from the pushing and shoving. They waited until it was completely empty before gingerly picking their way over the groaning teacher; Rotwood hadn't looked this bad since the skiing trip.

A hand reached out and gripped Jake by the foot, which made them jump a mile. " _Neine_ , you stay here, Mr. Long."

"Principal Rotwood!" Jake smiled nervously as the teacher picked himself off the ground. "I-I didn't do anything, yo! I swear!"

Professor Rotwood rubbed his back, scowling at Jake. "Follow me to my office, please." They started walking.

"But... I have-"

Rotwood half turned to look at Jake. They didn't look all that stern; in fact, Jake could swear he was trying not to laugh. "Do you want a detention, Mr Long?"

"No," Jake mumbled, and followed the principal into their office.

"Take a seat." Rotwood crossed the room and sat behind their desk, leaning back and intertwining their hands across their chest. They appeared to be studying Jake with a half-smile on their face, which was quite eerie. It wasn't like them to not be comically shouting and dishing out detentions all the time.

Jake cleared their throat. "Nice... uh... weather outside, don't you think?"

Rotwood did not answer.

"So... uh, what's up?" Jake shrank in they seat.

Rotwood then spoke. "You're a decent kid, Mr Long, despite all your obvious flaws. If there was any way I could have done zis differently-"

"Are you reading this from a script or something?" Jake blurted out, craning their head over Rotwood's desk.

Rotwood spluttered.

"You memorised it?" Jake's tone was pleasantly astounded when they did not see a script. "That's so cool, yo!"

Rotwood cut Jake off. "Enough! Stupid boy. Why did I bother trying to make amends anyway?"

"What... what are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about?" Rotwood demanded. "Is it not obvious?"

Jake frowned.

"I am no longer working at this stupid little highschool any longer!"

"You're fired?" Jake's grin stretched a mile.

"No."

"You... quit?"

"No! No! Stop it with ze interruptions!" Rotwood waved their hands at Jake."What I am talking about is the great reveal of all magical creatures!"

Jake's eyes lost their excitement and they sank back in his chair. "Oh. Okay."

Professor Rotwood frowned. "'Oh, okay?' Zis is not an 'oh, okay' situation! There is nothing you can do; I have already sent zis evidence to the news reports. It has made national headlines!"

"Oh, yeah?" Jake challenged. "So why hasn't G called me?"

Their conversation was cut off by a well-timed buzzing in Jake's pocket. Rotwood smirked.

"Go on, Mr. Long. Answer your phone."

Jake reached into their pocket and grabbed their phone. It was Fu Dog. Putting the phone to their ear, Jake managed a half-casual hello.

"Hello! There isn't time for hello, kid!" Fu sounded very, very agitated. "Somebody's managed to get a hold of... dragon stuff... all over the news! The sphinx is outta the bag. You've gotta- you've gotta do something!"

"Yo, where's G?"Jake shot a look at Rotwood, who shrugged innocently, one hand on the desk.

"Out. I'm not gonna be the one to tell him the news, kid."

"But-"

"Listen, you get your dragon butt over here, _pronto_. W-wait, not a dragon. No flying, got it?"

"Got it." Jake hung up, and looked to Rotwood. "I'm... I'm gonna go now."

"Oh, really?" Rotwood arched an eyebrow before pushing a button on their desk. A massive steel cage dropped down around Jake.

"Wha- hey!" Jake rattled the bars, but nothing moved. "You can't do this, Principal Rotwood!"

Rotwood wheeled a crate mover into view. "I am sorry, Mr. Long. Unfortunately, there are some questions in ze assembly that I cannot answer without definite proof."

"This is exactly what got Brock fired, yo!" Jake protested. Rotwood paused.

"I sabotaged Brock's plan, if I remember correctly. My version?" Rotwood slid the crate mover under the cage. "It's completely foolproof!"

Rotwood placed a camera taped to a hard hat on their head. "Just in case you feel like giving me any more evidence while we go to the stage."

"Aww, man." Jake was too preoccupied to even point out how stupid the hat looked. They gripped the bars of the cage. "I gotta call Trix and Spud!"

The mentioned friends were sitting near the back of the assembly hall, a seat between them reserved for Jake. Spud, in Jake's absence, had positioned their back against the far armrest and their feet against the one closest to Trixie. They was wearing a small pair of half-moon glasses that were a little too narrow for their face.

Trixie wasn't paying attention, but as soon as the stink from Spud's toes reached their nose they quickly spoke up. "Move your feet, Spud! They're nasty… and why are you wearing that?"

"You know something else Rotwood has in their personal collection of Harry Potter memorabilia?" The half-moon glasses had bent to accommodate Spud's wide were slowly creeping back down the bridge of the boy's nose, so they pushed them back into place.

"Uh huh?" Trixie felt their phone buzz

"Two Dumbledore costumes. And my doctor said that I was s'posed to wear glasses, so, why not Dumbledore glasses? Right, Trixie?"

Trixie didn't reply. They were reading a very disturbing text from Jake.

"Trix?" Spud repeated. The lights dimmed and the crowds quietened.

Trixie finally spoke up. "Spud, Jakie's in trouble. Rotwood's got them in a cage!"

"A cage? Where?"

A single spotlight illuminated the centre stage, harshly bathing two figures in light. Jake, who was in a cage, was easily identified by their red jacket and jelled hair. Rotwood was even more identifiable by their yellow hard hat.

The overstretched half-moon glasses Spud was wearing broke in two. "Oh, snap." Spud breathed. "That hat is really stupid looking."

"Spud!" Trixie hissed.

"Sorry, it caught my eye. What do we do?"

"Ladies, and gentlemen!" Rotwood straightened up and adjusted their monocle. "I have been dreaming of zis day since my brilliant scientific ideas on magical creatures had me kicked out of Hoboken Science institute." They paused, and then continued.

"My brilliant scientific ideas, specifically my theory of dragons with the ability to shapeshift into human form. Zis is why I have this boy up here."

A snicker spread through the assembly hall, concentrated around the spot Brad was sitting in. It was common gossip that Jake thought he was a dragon, and to see it being discussed in front of them was even funnier. The only ones who weren't finding it all so funny were Trixie and Spud.

"Do I think zis boy is a dragon? No, I do not think that zis boy is a dragon." Rotwood paused for dramatic effect. "I know that zis boy is a dragon, and I can prove it!" They held out a vial of blue liquid. "Behold, the substance – discovered by me – called Rotium™! It reveals dragons for who they are, like this!"

Without further ceremony, Rotwood poured the vial of Rotium onto Jake's head. For a moment, nothing happened. The room was dead silent, like an empty graveyard.

The next second, Jake's form was engulfed in fire, and with fire came a cloud of dark smoke, covering Jake, Rotwood and most of the stage. Trixie and Spud exchanged fearful glances.

A smash was audible.

"Ah-ah, you are not moving, Mr Long!" Rotwood's voice could be heard through the smoke, and as it cleared, one could perceive Rotwood hanging onto the end of a red dragon's long tail, the vial of Rotium lying in a puddle to the side.

There was a collective gasp.

The dragon was about the size and a half of a grown man, with glittering, deep red scales and a yellow underbelly that perfectly matched the colour of Jake's jacket. The audienca looked and saw Jake's large, bone white teeth. They saw bat-like wings, inch-long, curved black talons, and the scratches scored on the stage by their inevitable scraping on the floor.

A camera flashed, and Jake recoiled instinctively. Rotwood jumped off the dragon's tail.

"As you can see, this is indeed a dragon. From what I have gathered from my extensive experience, they are a peaceful, sentient species that mean no harm to-"

"What measures must we put in place to protect ourselves from these beasts?"

 _Snap._

"No, no, no, you don't understand..." Rotwood started.

"Are they safe to display in a zoo?"

"They are sentient beings-"

"Is this creature the culprit of the many mysterious arson attacks, killing thousands every year?"

 _Flash._

"Are they the result of these real-life dragons?"

People were beginning to get up from their seats, crowding the stage. The TV cameras were trained on the dragon, the creature, the animal, Jake Long. On and on went the questions.

"Are they classed as lizards, or some sort of modern dinosaur?"

"How can we tell a real human from a fake dragon? Could they be hiding in our very homes?"

Jake backed away as the news reporters and others clambered on stage, brushing off a protesting Rotwood. Spud and Trixie tried to get a look in, but it was hopeless.

"Wait! Wait! This isn't how zis was meant to go!"

There was a sharp sensation in Jake's leg, like somebody was tearing one of their scales off. In all likelihood, they could indeed be doing so.

Questions, cameras, advancing upon them like vultures around a carcass. Jake could take no more; their hypersensitive eyes were clouded with fear and bright flashes; their powerful ears deafened by a team of people who didn't seem to be interviewing anybody at all. They certainly weren't asking the _creature_ Jake had been degraded to in their eyes.

They spread their wings, causing a general panic. Flapping their wings once, they ascended into the air before busting through one of the skylights on the roof, flying away until they were well out of sight of the cameras.

They could fly, but they couldn't hide forever.


	4. The Problem Of Hayley

**I liked writing this chapter, so I wrote it quite fast... enjoy! :D**

 _After a dramatic scene, played out in the local school assembly hall; there is no longer any doubt about the existence of dragons. They possess several unexplained abilities; the most disturbing of all the ability to shapeshift into human form. Dragons appear highly intelligent, enough so to convincingly mimic human behaviour, though their sentience in comparison to humans has not yet been established._

 _The dragon in question, formerly known as a human teenager named 'Jake Long', has escaped, but has been located and is under close surveillance._

"You got that right." Fu Dog growled and turned off the radio, looking pointedly at the front of the shop. With the help of Jake and Lao Shi (who had quickly found out the news after being mobbed by reporters whilst sitting and enjoying his favourite tea), they had managed to lock and barricade the doors, cover every window, and light the fireplace.

Still, the dulled chatter from outdoors never died down.

Jake groaned. "This is the worst day of my entire life." He placed his head in his hands.

"Don't be so down, kid. Cheer up!" Fu hopped onto the couch next to Jake. "They may know that dragons exist now, and maybe they are questioning whether to put you guys in a zoo, and there's going to be a worldwide dragonhunt, and the council... oohh, the council..."

"Fu. Not helping." Jake glared at Fu through his fingers.

"-But they don't know about the existence of other magical creatures!" Fu retorted.

"Oh, brilliant." Jake stood up abruptly. "There is still the small problem of _everything else_!" He paused. "It's only a matter of time before they put us all in cages, and it'll be all my fault."

"Young one," Lao Shi intoned, walking up to Jake. "You have not failed. You were simply outmanoeuvred. We simply must try and continue as normally as we can, and the world will follow our example and see we mean no harm."

"Yo, G..." Jake shrugged. "If you really think that everybody's just gonna roll with the existence of dragons, then why were we hiding it in the first place?"

Lao Shi raised a finger and opened his mouth, but all he did was stutter. "Ay... ya..."

The phone went off, and Fu picked it up.

"Hello? Who is this... Larry? Larry from where- are you a... No. No, we're not interested, goodbye."

"What is it, Fu Dog?" Lao Shi asked.

"The press. They got hold of our number." The phone went off again, and Fu picked it up. "Hello? No. Not interested. Who-who am I? That's none of your bone to chew, buddy!" He slammed it down.

"Yo, why don't we just ignore the phone? Unplug it?" Jake frowned. The phone rang once more.

"Hello? No. Stop calling this number." Fu growled and shoved it back on the hold. "We can't unplug the phone, kid; we're waiting to hear that they've arrived at Hayley's school. Jonathon promised us he'd call the second-" Another _brrring brrring_ sounded from the phone. " _Grrrrr_... we'll have to take shifts, because I'm not gonna answer five thousand nosy newspapers all by myself."

"This is ridiculous." Jake switched form. "Let me just go to Hayley's school; nobody watches the news until they're, like, grown-ups."

"Jake, we can't go outside!" Lao Shi protested as Jake unfolded his wings. "You'll be completely hounded as a dragon!"

"You're right." Jake switched back in a short blaze of fire. He took off his red jacket and reached for the black hoodie he had left lying around Lao Shi's shop; not much of a disguise, but hopefully not everybody would be as familiar with his human face as his dragon. "I'll go as a human then."

"But..."

"You said it yourself." Jake budged the barricade and unlocked the back door. "Continue as normal, and the world will follow our example."

"Good luck, kid!" Fu waved from the phone. "No, not you! We do not want- I am not a talking dog, thanks. Where are you getting that idea- oh."

Jake, thankfully, managed to slip out the back door of the shop without drawing attention to himself. Adjusting the hoodie so it came a little bit more over his face, Jake hurried into the main street and began walking, blending in with the crowd.

It was a short walk to Hayley's school from the shop, but the sun blazed down on New York, bathing the inhabitants in hot sunlight. Jake felt himself begin to sweat; how he wished that instead of wearing this hot, woollen winter hoodie, he could be in a t-shirt, or better still, scales. Scales would be the best option in this weather.

As he was approaching the school, a hand landed on his shoulder and dragged him to the side. Jake gasped and got ready to fight, but who he saw surprised him.

"Professor... Rotwood?"

"Yes, Mr. Long." There was a strange, wistful smile on his face. "It is me."

Jake frowned. "I'm busy getting my sister out of school before they find out and, I don't know what will happen to Hayley if they do. What do you want?"

"Mr. Long- Jake, I want to say zat I am sorry. Really, really sorry, you know?" Rotwood rubbed the back of his neck. "It wasn't... It wasn't meant to be like zis."

"Say _what_?" Jake crossed his arms, almost literally breathing fire in anger; his nose was smoking a little. "Sorry doesn't quite cut it. Maybe you shouldn't have _revealed the entire dragon secret in the first place_! Huh? Then you might not have had to be so sorry."

People were beginning to stare. "Mr. Long-"

"No. You've done enough, Rotwood." Jake turned and began to walk away. "I don't want to see you again! So, peace out. Enjoy your fame as the 'greatest scientist ever' and all that."

"But-" Rotwood trailed off. Pulling a face, he made reluctantly for the opposite direction. The greatest day of his life wasn't as great as he had dreamt it would be.

Jake walked up the school steps. It was so surreal; here was the spot that he dropped Hayley off every morning. He had made sure that his little sister was safe on her walk to school, and now the danger was from the inside.

Danger. That was what Jake called it, but in reality it could be anything. His mind imagined the worst, though; Hayley getting outed as a dragon – or at least the sister of a dragon - and being carted off to who knows where. She'd be scared, all right.

Jake's fists clenched, and he forced himself to breathe. In all reality, Hayley and her classmates could be completely oblivious. He pushed open the doors to the reception.

"Why, hello there!" The receptionist, a bubbly blonde lady, smiled at him over the counter. "What's a nice young man like yourself doing, wearing a hoodie out in the blazing sun?"

"Oh!" Jake quickly took down the hood. "I'm sorry."

"Can I just say, you look very familiar..." She peered at Jake over the top of her glasses.

"Uh..."

"Nevermind! What can I do you for?"

"My sister... Hayley..." Jake rubbed the back of his neck. "My mom sent me to get her out of school- she, um, isn't feeling too well."

"Really?" The receptionist raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... I can-" Jake remembered that he had lost his phone. "I can't call my mom, but this is kind of really urgent, yo!"

"I'll call the teacher." The receptionist spoke slowly, picking up the phone. Jake sat himself down on a couch.

"What do you know," The receptionist put the phone down. "Poor Hayley was feeling a little poorly. They've sent her to the front office; she won't be long."

"Thanks." Jake yawned, tired.

"I'm sorry, but you really do look familiar." The receptionist looked him up and down. "Are you in the local news or something?"

Jake stood up. "Errr... you could say that."

"Huh. Let me just see if I can find you..." She tapped on her keyboard. Jake opened his mouth to say something, but there wasn't really much he could do.

The doors opened, making Jake turn and see his sister. "Hayley!"

Hayley did look quite awful. She was deathly pale, had blotchy skin and was on the verge of tears.

Jake got down on his knees and opened his arms, and Hayley ran into his hug.

"I heard the news..." Hayley sniffed. "The rest of the class hadn't... but I was so worried-"

"Shhhh, shhh," Jake stood up, carrying Hayley in his embrace. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"Wait a moment..." The receptionist frowned. "You're that dragon boy?"

Jake could feel Hayley's breath catch. "Uh... no?"

"What are you talking about? It's an exact picture of you!" She tapped some more on her keyboard. "You made national news... are you really a dra-"

She stopped talking, because she had looked up and it had occurred to her that the dragon in question – and his sister – were gone.


	5. Flying Home

"Jake," Hayley started as they rode on their brother's back above New York City, turning thousands of heads. "Don't you think we should have just walked out of there rather than… this? It doesn't seem as safe."

"What? No, Hayley, don't worry." The red dragon's wings snapped out to a glide. "The Am-Drag has this covered, I promise."

"Really?"

If Jake had sweat glands at that moment, they would be going into overdrive. "Y-yeah. Don't worry about it, everything is fine, yo."

"You're lying, Jake." Hayley crossed their arms. "You don't have to be a genius like me to figure that out."

"Yeah? Well it doesn't take a genius either to figure out this is all my fault!" Jake growled. "All because I couldn't take being wet for some stupid picnic. Now everyone's in danger!"

Hayley blinked. "So what does this have to do with lying?"

The American Dragon jerked. " _Hayley_ -! Ugh, forget it. I was just lying to make you feel better, but I can't even get that right."

There was a short moment of silence as Jake switched to flapping their wings.

"And yes, Hayley, I know that's stupid and all, but I'm really not in the mood for a lecture."

"I wasn't going to say that." Hayley frowned. "Although you are right, it was stupid."

Jake sighed deeply. "Yeah, so what do you wanna say?" They were suddenly aware of two little arms wrapped halfway around their neck.

"I just want you to know you're a really great brother." Hayley's warm hug made Jake freeze in surprise.

"Oh, well, haha, ahem…" Jake stuttered. "That's really sweet of you, Hayley… thanks-"

"Building! Look out for the building!" The red dragon shook themselves out of their trance just in time to narrowly avoid a collision with concrete. Hayley's embrace became something more of a stranglehold as the girl hung on for dear life.

"Sorry, sis!"

"Jake, be more careful next time!" Hayley grumbled. "Ugh, I wish I could be flying right now."

"Yeah, I know it sucks but the less dragons revealed, the better." Jake spotted their house coming up… surrounded by a crowd of people. "I hope Mom and Dad are alright."

The two entered through an open window in Jake's room and the boy immediately switched to human form. "Mom! Dad! We're, uh, home!"

Susan threw the door open. "You're okay!" They ran over and hugged the two, followed closely by Jonathon. "We tried to call, but my father's phone kept saying it was too busy!"

"Yeah," Jake scratched the back of their head. "We were having some technical issues, but I got Hayley back safe."

Jonathon smiled. "And as long as my family's safe, that's all that matters, right?"

"But what were you thinking, flying over here!" Susan interrupted. "Haven't you been hearing how the news has been covering this? You could have been shot out of the sky!"

Jake rubbed the back of their head, grinning apologetically. "I… panicked?"

"Well… nevermind. But we've got to be much more careful." They ruffled their son's hair. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"And," Hayley started. "I didn't reveal my dragon identity. Isn't that great!"

Jonathon grinned and picked their daughter up. "That's great, Princess. Now why don't we come downstairs, play a few games to take our mind off of this? After all, the press can't hound us in our own house!"

"That's a great idea, honey." Susan began walking after their husband. "Are you coming, Jake?"

Jake walked up to their window and leaned a little out, feeling a breeze on their face. They looked up at the sunny sky, remembering how smooth the flight over had been.

There was a flash of light, which brought their attention to a man with a camera standing on the opposite building. With a groan of disgust Jake slammed their window shut and drew the curtains.

"Coming, Mom."

~Line Break~

It was the middle of the night when Rose's laptop began lighting up with breaking news of the dragons. They rubbed their eyes, pinched their arm, but there it was. A picture of Jake underneath the heading 'Dragons Hiding in Our Midst?'

Rose's blood running cold, they clicked the link which led to an article:

 _Dragons hiding in our midst?_

 _In New York, a city situated on the east coast of the United States, existence of dragons has been undoubtedly proven by a man named Hans Rotwood. What's more, they appear to possess a trait far scarier than any fire-breathing or flying ever was: the ability to disguise themselves as regular humans._

 _No dragon has yet been discovered besides one formerly known as the human teenager Jake Long, but researchers across the world are attempting to replicate the substance named Rotium which was able to reveal them._

 _Currently the story is very early in development, but much more details are expected soon. Click_ _here_ _for 24-hour news coverage of Jake Long's house._

Rose shut down the laptop, plunging their room into complete darkness as they breathed heavily. Jake was in trouble; the girl knew more than anybody else what happened to fearful humans when they discovered dragons. They needed to get to New York, but how? What were they going to do?

The girl took a deep breath and sat up, trying to steady their heartbeat. This was all so sudden; they'd planned to tell their parents in case Jake needed them again, but there'd never been a good moment. How were you supposed to even begin? And now at three o'clock in the morning, it was too late, too late…

Rose steeled themselves; panicking was not going to help. What options did they have? They could wait until tomorrow when their parents watched the news and saw Jake wasn't crazy, but it was unlikely they would still let Rose go. They could sneak out and go alone… but they didn't have money to fly.

At least, not by human transport. Rose put their laptop down, reached under their bed and drew out the Huntsclan spear they had acquired after fighting the Dark Dragon. They turned it on and began flipping through various buttons on the small screen until they got to it: a map of the various magical hotspots detected in Hong Kong. The magical community had rather welcomed Rose after their help defeating the Dark Dragon, so there was bound to be somebody willing to help.

Perfect. Rose got up and dressed, then quickly packed a bag full of clothes. They opened the window into the night air… and paused, looking back at their bed with a twinge of guilt.

Their family would be so worried. Rose lay down their bag, turned on a light and quickly wrote out a note: 'Check the news. Jake wasn't lying. Will be back soon with full explanation, love Rose.' It wasn't great, but at least their family would have some sort of answer when they checked in the next morning.

Without any further ado, Rose turned off the light and left.


End file.
